Bible Textbook for Public Schools Planned

[Poiuyt]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050922/ap_on_re_us/bible_textbook

An interfaith group is releasing a new textbook aimed at teaching public high school students about the Bible while avoiding legal and religious disputes.

snip -

The First Amendment Center's Charles Haynes said the only previous textbook, decades old, was inadequate because it treated the Bible only as literature, slighting its religious significance.

more -

IMHO, treating the Bible as literature is the only way it should be taught in public schools

[Verve]

1. No Way! Separation of Church and State! How clear can this be?n/t

[phusion]

2. What about the Qur'an

Are they printing that, too?

[htuttle]

9. The Qur'an, the Bhagavad Gita...

...the works of Confucius, Lao Tzu and Buddha have ALL had as large an effect on the world as the Christian Bible.

Maybe not all on the US directly, but would anyone deny now that the Qur'an has had no effect on the US? Same with all the rest in one way or another. (How you going to really understand China without knowing about Confucius? or India without the Bhagavad Gita?)

If they want to teach comparative religion in public school, good on them. But you have to 'compare' more than one religion....

[AllegroRondo]

3. I have no problem with teaching it as history or literature

and by that, I mean the historical impact of the Bible, not history as described by the Bible. It has had a tremendous impact on western culture and society.

But that is the ONLY way it should be allowed in public schools.

I would be interested in seeing what this group proposes.

[cynatnite]

7. And what if it's a fundie doing the teaching?

What makes you think they could be unbiased or even would be?

[AllegroRondo]

14. No more unbiased than a fundie teaching any other class

There will always be fundies who will attempt to teach their points of view in our public classrooms, regardless of what the subject is, be it a "bible as literature" class or physics or economics.

It is the job of the school admins to hold them accountable, stop them, or fire them if they can't do their job correctly.

That doesnt mean I WANT this class taught, but I can see the benifit of having such a class. For example, it could teach about the dark ages, the crusades, the Spanish inquisition, the torture of Galileo, etc. and what effects this book has had on wetern society.

[cynatnite]

20. And I'm not confident they would be held accountable

especially in the overly bushbot part of the country I'm in.

But honestly, do you think a class oriented around the bible is going to discuss the negative impacts on society at all? The minute it's assocaited with the inquisition, bible thumping parents are going to scream the class is bible bashing. (well, I guess there is some benefit ;)

I agree there are benefits, but I prefer to leave it to the colleges and universities.

[titoresque]

4. The only way my kids will hear or read any of this complete shit

in school or elsewhere is if "The adventures of Captain Underpants" are taught in the same setting and stressed with as much validity.
Not gonna happen!!! .......actually I think Captain Underpants has more meaning and moral teachings than can be trusted in this ficticious garbage "the bible" that's been edited so many times for political purpose. Gag me!

[undergroundpanther]

5. homeschooling ain't just for fundie freaks anymore

There goes the country.

May ALL the churches fail that promote theocracy and become defunctand empty. May all fundamentalists be hated everywhere they go called the charlitans they are,and shamed from public life for the sociopathic controlling bullshitters they are and may the public reject Christian "Madras"schools and dominionism as the wicked ignorance making thing it is.
May the bible and all other so called "holy texts" sit unused,collect dust,be forgotten and fade away from human memory forever.
LET DEAD GODS LIE..People we don't have to listen to gods and belive in it anymore.

[LeftyMom]

11. It never was

The fundie freaks were fairly late to the game actually, not really a factor in homeschooling until the 80's. They just wound up being the public face of homeschooling because the HSLDA aggresively markets that image and because they are a more influential market than liberal homeschoolers because they buy more shit.

[cynatnite]

6. Absolutely not!

I tried to give it the benefit of the doubt. I went to the website and sorted through some of the material. There's no way!

[youthere]

8. This is one of the reasons we chose to homeschool...

this kind of crap has been oozing it's way into the schools for years.

[SeattleGirl]

10. I took a "Bible as Literature" class in high school

in 1973, and it was just that -- looking at the Bible as a piece of literature. I really enjoyed the class, and did not feel in any way, shape or form that someone was trying to shove religion down my throat.

[titoresque]

12. maybe no one WAS trying to shove religion

down your throat.....in that class. However, your experience will not be everyones experience and there will be Fundie teachers who will bend and twist the rules and toss out opinion. I think it's a disgusting way for this Admin. to weisel their way in the schools.
There are people like myself who feel just as passionately against the bible and organized religion as those who are believers and push for it in schools. I'm offended, and I do think it's a way to shove religion at kids, albeit a softer.....legal way.

[SeattleGirl]

21. I cannot disagree with you...

and did not intend to suggest that my experience would be the same as others'. And yeah, there will be fundies who will try to use this as a way to cram their brand of religion down the students' throats. It's definitely something that needs to be followed closely. One thing that would really bother me is if they made such a class mandatory. I would be absolutely against that. The class I took was elective.

[formerrepuke]

13. ...because "teens don't know much about scripture." I have a

solution: How about establishing private, faith-only institutions, which are free from government intrusion.. wherein families and individuals can gather at least once-a-week to explore issues of faith, learn scripture, and even pray openly in the manner of their choosing. ((sarcasm))

[bee]

15. a brilliant idea!

:rofl:

they could even have "classes" on religion for children... they could call it "Sunday School"

[OnionPatch]

18. LOL

:rofl:

Great idea!!!

[Matariki]

16. it should be taught as a study in quaint tribal customs

which is what it is.

[OnionPatch]

17. When/if they really do this

I will be raising holy f***in' sh**!!!!

In fact, I am a Christian, but I will not allow ANYONE else to read and interpret the Bible to my child. I don't even want them reading it to her without interpretation, because it can easily be interpreted wrongly by a child. This is total garbage. I may have to homeschool myself. Sigh. What a F'd-up country this is turning into. Boy will we have a lot of clean-up work to do when these cretins are finally booted.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

19. Sneaky

[Johonny]

22. well

I took several good religious classes in college. But does the average citizen need as a basic resource of education the knowledge of the Bible? I'd have to vote on the no side.

[SeattleGirl]

23. Agreed

As I posted above, I would absolutely object to the study of such a book as mandatory (unless it was a private religious school). When I took my Bible as Lit class in 1973, the country was not being run by a bunch of fundie nutjobs. :)

[truebrit71]

24. In a theology class I would have no problem with this...

...or used as an historical reference "..during the second century a cult calling themselves "christians" named after their fallen and martyred leader gained popularity...."